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Capturing The Past

Romanticism arises from old photographs can persistently stay even when the image disappears from view. So what can a compilation of imagery poignancies of a city do to our nostalgic path? A tumblr restores what it feels to be in Jakarta during the 1950s.

Gleaming back to the past eras where the youngsters were wild and free, and people really connected to each other instead of through the use of social media, life did seem to be simpler and effortless. As years go by and the development is more rapid than ever, old buildings and carefree lifestyle dissipate, replaced by the culture of consumerism. In larger cities, especially, the phase of living rolls faster than anyone can imagine, although the hectic days and abominable schedule leave the working class emptier.

Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia with at least 13 million people occupying the land area during work hours experiences pretty much the same thing any other capital has: pollution, traffic jam, housing problem, and endless list of complaints from its inhabitants. A little over 50 years ago the situation was obviously different, although better or worse is an opinion that is subjective. Less citizens and less buildings, the city was in its adolescent years, providing space for plenty of growths as well as plenty of downturns. Jakarta in the 50’sportrays imageries of humanism within the capital—rather than history, captured romantically by the site owner’s grandfather who happens to be a photographer.

Less citizens and less buildings, the city was in its adolescent years, providing space for plenty of growths as well as plenty of downturns.

Without losing its precedent nostalgic value, the photos render both love for photography and the people in the images. Story flows unspoken, only with assortment of lights, insidious smiles, and sometimes, attentive gestures in between. The question is only then, were they happier than the current city’s “owners”? Mentioned to be left unanswered, one thing to bear in mind is only, that they may be the existent individuals’ predecessors. That the current ones cannot possibly exist without the men from the past.